Background: Kidney transplantation (KT) candidates often present with multiple comorbidities. These patients also have a substantial burden of frailty, which is also associated with increased mortality. However, it is unknown if frailty is merely a surrogate for comorbidity, itself an independent domain of risk, or if frailty and comorbidity have differential effects. Better understanding the interplay between these 2 constructs will improve clinical decision making in KT candidates. Objective: To test whether comorbidity is equally associated with waitlist mortality among frail and nonfrail KT candidates and to test whether measuring both comorbidity burden and frailty improves mortality risk prediction. Methods: We studied 2,086 candidates on the KT waitlist (November 2009 – October 2017) in a multicenter cohort study, in whom frailty and comorbidity were measured at evaluation. We quantified the association between Charlson comorbidity index (CCI) adapted for end-stage renal disease and waitlist mortality using an adjusted Cox proportional hazards model and tested whether this association differed between frail and nonfrail candidates. Results: At evaluation, 18.1% of KT candidates were frail and 51% had a high comorbidity burden (CCI score ≥2). Candidates with a high comorbidity burden were at 1.38-fold (95% CI 1.01–1.89) increased risk of waitlist mortality. However, this association differed by frailty status (p for interaction = 0.01): among nonfrail candidates, a high comorbidity burden was associated with a 1.66-fold (95% CI 1.17–2.35) increased mortality risk; among frail candidates, here was no statistically significant association (HR 0.75, 95% CI 0.44–1.29). Adding this interaction between comorbidity and frailty to a mortality risk estimation model significantly improved prediction, increasing the c-statistic from 0.640 to 0.656 (p < 0.001). Conclusions: Nonfrail candidates with a high comorbidity burden at KT evaluation have an increased risk of waitlist mortality. Importantly, comorbidity is less of a concern in already high-risk patients who are frail.

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a silent and poorly known killer. The current concept of CKD is relatively young and uptake by the public, physicians and health authorities is not widespread. Physicians still mix up CKD with chronic kidney insufficiency or failure, For the wider public and health authorities, CKD evokes kidney replacement therapy (KRT). In Spain, the prevalence of KRT is 0.13%. Thus, health authorities may consider CKD a non-issue: very few persons eventually need KRT and, for those in whom kidneys fail, the problem is “solved” by dialysis or kidney transplantation. However, KRT is the tip of the iceberg in the burden of CKD. The main burden of CKD is accelerated aging and premature death. The cut-off points for kidney function and kidney damage indexes that define CKD also mark an increased risk for all-cause premature death. CKD is the most prevalent risk factor for lethal COVID-19 and the factor that most increases the risk of death in COVID-19, after old age. Men and women undergoing KRT still have an annual mortality which is 10- o 100-fold higher than similar age peers, and life expectancy is shortened by around 40 years for young persons on dialysis and by 15 years for young persons with a functioning kidney graft. CKD is expected to become the fifth global cause of death by 2040 and the second cause of death in Spain before the end of the century, a time when 1 in 4 Spaniards will have CKD. However, by 2022, CKD will become the only top-15 global predicted cause of death that is not supported by a dedicated well-funded CIBER network research structure in Spain. Realizing the underestimation of the CKD burden of disease by health authorities, the Decade of the Kidney initiative for 2020-2030 was launched by the American Association of Kidney Patients (AAKP) and the European Kidney Health Alliance (EKHA). Leading Spanish kidney researchers grouped in the kidney collaborative research network REDINREN have now applied for the RICORS call of collaborative research in Spain with the support of the Spanish Society of Nephrology, ALCER and ONT: RICORS2040 aims to prevent the dire predictions for the global 2040 burden of CKD from becoming true.

Total nasal packing causes significant nocturnal oxygen desaturation. This must be taken into account in the postoperative nasal packing of patients with respiratory failure, obesity, or SDB.

Pheochromocytomas and paragangliomas are tumours derived from neural crest cells, which can be diagnosed by biochemical measurement of metanephrine and methoxytyramine. Advances in genetic research have identified many genes involved in the pathogenesis of these tumours, suggesting that up to 35-45% may have an underlying germline mutation. These genes have a singular transcriptional signature and can be grouped into 2 clusters (or groups): cluster 1 (VHL and SHDx), involved in angiogenesis and hypoxia pathways; and cluster 2 (MEN2 and NF1), linked to the kinase signalling pathway. In turn, these genes are associated with a characteristic biochemical phenotype (noradrenergic and adrenergic), and clinical features (location, biological behaviour, age of presentation, etc.) in a large number of cases. Early diagnosis of these tumours, accompanied by a correct genetic diagnosis, should eventually become a priority to enable better treatment, early detection of complications, proper screening of family members and related tumours, as well as an improvement in the overall prognosis of these patients.

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